Removable multipaneled wall construction

ABSTRACT

A HOLLOW DOUBLE-WALLED BUILDING PANEL IS DISCLOSED WHICH IS ADAPTED TO BE MARGINALLY INTERCONNECTED WITH ONE OR MORE OTHER SUCH PANELS TO FORM A RIGID BUT READILY REMOVABLE WALL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SAME. THE PANEL COMPRISES A PAIR OF FLAT, PARALLEL WALL MEMBERS WHICH ARE REGISTERED OPPOSITE ONE ANOTHER WITH A CLEARANCE THEREBETWEEN, AND PAIRS OF ELONGATED FRAMING MEMBERS WHICH ARE INTERPOSED IN THE CLEARANCE BETWEEN THE WALL MEMBERS ALONG THE OPPOSITE EDGE PORTIONS OF THE PANEL. AT LEAST ONE PAIR OF THE FRAMING MEMBERS ARE SIMILARLY ORIENTED IN THE PANEL AND HAVE MATCHING CONVEXO-CONCAVE BODIES IN TRANSVERSE PLANES THEREOF, THE RELATIVELY RAISED AND RECESSED MALE AND FEMALE FACES OF WHICH COMPLEMENTALLY JAM LOCK WITH ONE ANOTHER FROM ONE PANEL TO THE NEXT, AND PROJECT RELATIVELY OUTWARDLY AND INWARDLY FROM THE ADJACENT EDGES OF THE WALL MEMBERS, RESPECTIVELY, SO THAT THE PANELS CAN BE JAM LOCKED IN ABUTTING EDGE-TOEDGE RELATIONSHIP WITH ONE ANOTHER, ALONG THE JOINTS THEREBETWEEN.

P 28, 1971 v. E. SPRATT 08,

REMOVABLE MULTI PANELED WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed April 17. 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. V/E/L 5 .5PEA rr BY L slum w A ram/5V6 p 28, 1971 v. E. SPRATT REMOVABLE MULTI PANELED WALL CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 17, 1969 INVUNTOR.

J I gammy United States Patent U.S. Cl. 52241 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hollow double-walled building panel is disclosed which is adapted to be marginally interconnected with one or more other such panels to form a rigid but readily removable wall construction of the same. The panel comprises a pair of fiat, parallel wall members which are registered opposite one another with a clearance therebetween; and pairs of elongated framing members which are interposed in the clearance between the wall members along the opposite edge portions of the panel. At least one pair of the framing members are similarly oriented in the panel and have matching convexo-concave bodies in transverse planes thereof, the relatively raised and recessed male and female faces of which complementally jam lock with one another from one panel to the next, and project relatively outwardly and inwardly from the adjacent edges of the wall members, respectively, so that the panels can be jam locked in abutting edge-toedge relationship with one another, along the joints therebetween.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to removable walls and/or buildings, and in particular to removable wall and/ or building constructions comprising a plurality of hollow, marginally interconnected, double-walled panels.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION INCLUDING CERTAIN OBJECTS THEREOF Farmers and the like who employ migrant labor, and organizations such as the military which have reason to shift their personnel a great deal, are constantly seeking lower-cost temporary housing which can be quickly erected at and/or removed from a site. One object of the present invention is to provide a wall and/ or building construction which can be readily assembled and dis assembled, and quickly and easily transported from one site to another. Another object is to provide a readily removable wall and/or building construction of this nature which is assembled from a plurality of double-walled panels which are similarly structured and adapted to be marginally interconnected with one another by means of interlocking stiles and crossrails incorporated in the framing structure of the panels. Still another object is to provide a wall and/ or building construction of this nature in which the panels can be anchored to a base by means of the sill strips disclosed in my copending application with Clifford C. Jackson, Ser. No. 817,032, entitled Dismemerable Anchoring Device For Removable Walls and filed on even date herewith. Other objects include the provision of a wall and/or building construction of this nature wherein the panels are quickly and cheaply constructed from pairs of wall members and a universal framing material used therewith; and wherein the multipaneled structure has high thermal and acoustical insulation properties and can be oriented in any plane to serve as an upright wall, as a flooring, or a roofing structure, either with or without other structure superposed thereon, as for example, where siding is added to an outside wall structure. Still other objects will become 3,608,258 Patented Sept. 28, 1971 apparent from the description of the invention which follows hereafter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These objects and advantages are realized by a wall and/or building construction of my invention which employs a multitude of interlocking building panels each comprising a pair of flat, parallel wall members which are registered opposite one another with a clearance therebetween; and a pair of elongated framing members which are interposed in the clearance between the wall members along opposite edge portions of the panel. The framing members are similarly oriented in the panel and have matching convexo-concave bodies in transverse planes thereof. The relatively raised and recessed male and female faces of the framing members complementally jam lock with one another from one panel to the next, and project relatively outwardly and inwardly from the adjacent edges of the wall members, respectively, so that the panels can be jam locked in abutting edge-toedge relationship with one another, along the joints therebetween. In preferred form, thepanels have quadrilateral configurations, and each further comprises a second pair of elongated framing members which are interposed in the clearance between the wall members along the remaining edge portions of the panel, and characterized with the same complementally shaped convexo-concave body configuration as in the case of the first mentioned pair of framing members. The second pair of framing members may be inversely oriented in the panel, with the female faces thereof exposed to the outside of the panel and recessed in the panel relatively inwardly from the adjacent edges of the wall members. Or the second pair of framing members may be similarly oriented in the panel, with the male and female faces thereof projecting relatively outwardly and inwardly from the adjacent edges of the wall members in the manner of the first mentioned pair of framing members.

In the preferred embodiments of the invention, the pairs of framing members are interconnected end-to-end with one another about the margins of the panels, to form a hollow quadrilateral frame for the wall members. The wall members are abutted with and secured to the side walls of the frame, preferably by adhesively bonding them thereto. The male and female faces of the framing members have serrated, complementally trapezoidally cross sectioned surfaces thereon and therein, which are equidistantly inwardly spaced from the side Walls of the framing members to form shoulders therebetween. The shoulders are disposed in the edge planes of the wall members.

Preferably the bodies of the framing members also have longitudinally extending cavities therein, to accommodate electrical wiring and the like. The hollow interior of each frame may be filled with an insulating material, as may the cavities of the framing members.

When the panels are serially interconnected with one another along a horizontal, and possibly tiered on top of one another, to form a wall, the female faces of the second pair of framing members are aligned with one another and exposed to the outsides of the panels along the top and bottom of the Wall; and stiifeners are engaged with the aforesaid exposed faces of the panels across the vertical joints therebetween, from one panel to the next, to interlock the assembly of panels along the entire length of the wall. At the bottom of the wall, I prefer to employ a series of the sill strips described in my aforementioned copending application with Clifford C. Jackson. The sill strips are spaced apart along the length of the wall to coincide in a medial sense with the vertical joints between the panels. Along the top of the wall, either an elongated sill strip or an extra long framing member may be employed as the stiffener, and is normall incorporated in a coping for better appearance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These features and advantages will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate certain of the preferred embodiments of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exploded and partly cross-sectioned perspective view of a multipaneled wall construction in which the panels are interlocked with one another and anchored to a concrete base therebelow;

FIG. 2 is a partly cross-sectioned, part side elevational view of a marginal frame of vertical stiles and horizontal crossrails embodied in each panel;

FIG. 3 is a part schematic, vertical cross-sectional view of the means by which the panels are anchored to the base, at the vertical joints therebetween;

FIG. 4 is a part vertical cross-sectional view through one panel in the wall construction of FIG. 1, illustrating not only the anchoring means but also a longitudinally interlocking cap or coping applied to the Wall;

FIG. 5 is a part vertical cross-sectional view through an alternate form of cap or coping;

FIG. 6 is a part vertical cross-sectional view through an alternate wall construction employing two or more vertical tiers of panels;

FIG. 7 is a partly cross-sectioned, part side elevational view of the marginal framing embodied in the panels of the multitiered construction in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a part vertical cross-sectional view through an alternate form of panel employing a different bottom crossrail from that shown in the other embodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the wall construction 2 in FIG. 1 comprises a plurality of rectangularly shaped 4 x 8 foot panels 4 which are longitudinally upstanding on, and anchored to a concrete foundation slab 6 laid therebelow, and serially interlocked with one another in the horizontal direction of the wall. The anchoring means comprises a series of one foot long sill strips which are spaced apart along the length of the wall to coincide in a medial sense with the vertical joints between the panels. The sill strips 10 cooperate with a framing structure 18 in the panels, to interlock the panels to the slab 6; and in addition, this same framing structure 18 enables the panels to be interlocked with one another, as indicated earlier. After the panels are otherwise placed and interlocked, a common rib or stiffener 14 is applied to the top of the wall, and interlocked with all of the panels, to complete the construction. The stiffener 14 is ordinarily embodied in a coping, however, to give a wall a more finished appearance, as shall be explained hereinafter.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-4 in unison, it will be seen that in addition to the framing structure 18, each panel comprises a pair of flat sheet-like wall members 16 which are secured to opposite sides of the frame 18, in spaced, parallel registry with one another. Specifically, the illustrated wall members consist of 4 x 8 sheets of stiff finish plywood, but it will be apparent that they may be of any size, and may be constructed from a variety of other materials such as metal, or plaster and wood pulp or fiber drywall materials. The frame 18 itself comprises four lengths of a universal framing material 20, which are arranged in a quadrilateral configuration, and interconnected end-to-end with one another to form the frame. Each length of material 20 hasfiat, parallel longitudinal side walls 20 thereon, and a convexo-concave cross-sectional body 20" therebetween, the interior of which has a longitudinally extending cavity 22 therein. The relatively raised and recessed surfaces 24 and 26, respectively, on

the oppositely disposed faces of the lengths, have complementally trapezoidally cross-sectioned configurations, and the lateral wall 24' and 26 of the surfaces are inversely serrated in the longitudinal direction thereof. Also, each of the surfaces is equidistantly inwardly spaced from the side walls 20' of the lengths, so that longitudinal shoulders 28 and 30 are formed on the corners of the lengths.

In fabricating the panels, the frame 18 of each panel is interposed around the margin of the same, between the edge portions of the wall members 16. The longer lengths of framing material thus perform as stiles 32 for the panel, whereas the shorter lengths perform as crossrails 34. In addition, the matching structural configuration of the lengths enables the panels to be interlocked with one another, and with the sill strips 10, and the stiffener 14, or a coping, as shall be explained.

In the single tier construction of FIGS. l-4, the stiles 32 are correspondingly oriented between the edge portions of the wall members, with the exposed shoulders 28 and 30 thereon disposed in the same planes as, or flush with the upright edges 16 of the members. Thus, the raised surface 24 of one stile 32' is also raised relatively outwardly from the panel, beyond the adjacent edges 16 of the members; whereas the recessed surface 26 of the other stile 32", is also recessed in the panel, relatively inwardly from the adjacent edges 16' of the wall members. And as a consequence, when the panels are installed in use, as in FIG. 1, the raised or male stiles 32' can be marginally interconnected with the recessed or female stiles 32", by jamming the male face 24 of the male stile on each panel, into the female face 26 of the female stile of the next panel. As the faces 24 and 26 are interengaged with one another, and abutted at the shoulders 28 and 30, the serrated walls 24' and 26' of the same interlock with one another to close the joint between each pair of panels. Thus, the finished construction provides a continuous exterior and interior surface along the length of the wall, from one end thereof to the other.

The crossrails 34 must cooperate, of course, with the stiffener 14 and anchoring means 10, and in order to do so, they are inversely oriented between the edge portions of the wall members 16, with the female faces 26 thereof exposed to the outside of the panels and flush at the shoulders 30 with the edges 16" of the wall members. Moreover, the stiffener 14 and sill strips 10 have complemental male cross sections to interengage with the female faces 26 of the crossrails. The stiffener 14 in fact, may be constituted by a length of the framing material 20, as in FIGS. 1-4; Whereas each of the sill strips 10 may have a three-piece longitudinal construction 10' which is trapezoidal in cross section and characterized with serrated side walls 10", as discussed in detail in my aforementioned copending application with Clifford C. Jackson. The strips 10 are rigidly spiked to the concrete slap 6 by pairs of T-nails 36 (FIG. 4) which are driven downwardly into, and flush with counterbored holes 38 (FIG. 3) therein. The operation may be effected by one of the hydraulic or air-driven spiking guns now available on the market.

In order to assure that the bottom rails 34' make a tight interlock with the sill strips, without close manufacturing tolerances in the strips, the rails 34 preferably take that form shown in FIG. 8. As seen, the shoulders 30 of the female face 26 have deep, but narrow, longitudinally extending grooves 40 therein which are inwardly canted from the plane of the shoulders, and slightly inwardly oversized at the bottoms 40' thereof. Thus, the resulting side wall structure of the rails provides sufficient flexure to accommodate a sill strip 10 which is slightly oversized from the standards otherwise set therefor.

In the embodiment of FIGS. l-4, the side walls 20' and female face 30 of the stiffener are boxed in with three appropriately dimensioned length of wood material 46. as illustrated, to form a coping 44. The side wall strips 42 are cut flush with the shoulders 28 of the male face 24, so that when the coping is applied, the continuous exterior and interior surfaces of the wall 2 are not interrupted.

A more preferred form of coping is shown in FIG. 5, wherein an elongated strip ltle of the sill materials is inverted and bonded to the underside of a 2 x 4 or other appropriately dimensioned length of wood material 46. The stiffener thus constituted by the sill strip 106, is ordinarily engaged in grooved rails 34 of the type seen in FIG. 8.

FIG. 2 illustrates the manner in which the corners of the frame 18 are formed. The female stiles 32 and the ends of the crossrails 34 meeting therewith, are mitered on 45 angles to form a mitered joint at each of the upper and lower left-hand corners. In the case of the joints between the male stiles 32 and the crossrails, however, a somewhat different technique is employed. As seen in the upper right-hand corner of FIG. 2, the female faces 26 of the rails 34 are extended to the shoulder plane 28 of the male stile, but the male faces 24 of the rails are cutaway from the meeting ends thereof. along 45 bevels to interengage in tongue and groove fashion with the female face 26 of the male stile 32.

Typically, the framing material is extruded from a lightweight metal such as aluminum, and then cut to the desired lengths. My present practice is to bond the wall members 16 to the side walls 20' of the frame 18 with a high peel strength adhesive, such as a polyamide type adhesive now available in the market. However, numerous other means including mechanical fastener means such as screws, can be employed to secure the members to the frame. Both the cavities 22 of the frame, and the hollow interior of each panel within the frame, can be filled with insulative material 48 and/ or used to house electrical wiring, plumbing and the like. Normally all such materials are pre-installed at the time the panels are fabricated.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 6 and 7, the two-tiered wall construction 2' is substantially the same as that shown in FIGS. 1-4; but because of the necessity for stacking the panels, the crossrail 34 of one of the panels in each vertical pair, must be reversed in disposition from that shown in the single-tiered construction. Thus, at the joint between tiers in FIG. 6, the upper rails 3411 of the lower panels are inverted to perform as male rails for interlocking with the female rails 34:: in the upper panels. In addition, the female stiles 32" and the ends of the male rails 3411 which meet with the female stiles in the lower panels, must be truncated in the respective male shoulder planes 28 thereof, as in FIG. 7, to allow for stacking the upper panels thereon.

Each wall construction 2 or 2' can be readily disassembled by removing the coping, then dismembering the sill strips in the manner described in my aforementioned copending application with Clifford C. Jackson, and then lifting away the panels from the remaining members of the strips.

When two more walls meet at a corner, for example, in a building, a male-adapted corner post of say, 4 x 4 wood material, is employed to interlock the walls, preferably with a sill strip applied to each abutting face thereof in the manner of the strip a in FIG. 5.

What is claimed is:

1. A wall construction comprising a plurality of doublewalled building panels which are serially interconnected with one another along a horizontal, to form the wall, said panels comprising pairs of flat, parallel wall members which are registered opposite one another with a clearance therebetween, and pairs of upright elongated framing members interposed in the clearance between the wall members along the opposite interconnecting edge portions of the panels, said framing members being similarly oriented in the panels and having matching convexoconcave bodies in transverse planes thereof, each of which has spaced, parallel, longitudinally extending side walls thereon, and oppositely disposed covexo-concave faces extending therebetween which have shoulders thereon that terminate at opposite longitudinally extending edges of the side walls, and surfaces interposed between the shoulders which are raised from and recessed into the body, respectively, relative to the shoulders, and complementally crosss-sectionally shaped and jam looked with one another between pairs of framing members, from one panel to the next, along the vertical joints therebetween.

2. The Wall construction according to claim 1 wherein the panels have quadrilateral configurations and further comprise second pairs of elongated framing members which are interposed in the clearances between the Wall members along the upper and lower edge portions of the panels, and characterized with the same complementally shaped convexo-concave body configurations as the first mentioned pairs of framing members; and wherein the second pairs of framing members have the recessed faces thereof exposed to the outsides of the panels and aligned with one another along the top and bottom of the wall, and the panels are interlocked along the entire length of the wall by stiffeners which are engaged with the aforesaid exposed faces of the panels across the vertical joints therebetween, from one panel to the next.

3. The wall construction according to claim 2 wherein the stiffener along the bottom of the Wall comprises a series of sill strips which are spaced apart along the length of the wall to coincide in a medial sense with the vertical joints between the panels.

4. The wall construction according to claim 3 wherein the panels are interlocked with one another along the top of the wall by an elongated sill strip.

5. The wall constructed according to claim 2 wherein the panels are interlocked with one another along the top of the wall by an extra long framing member which extends from one end of the wall to the other.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,856,039 10/ 1958 Hawkinson 52--24l 3,113,401 12/1963 Rose 52-586X 3,236,014 2/1966 Edgar 52--593X 3,364,641 1/1968 Brenneman 52586X 3,401,495 4/ 1965 Schweller 52-593 JOHN E. MURTAGH, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 52591, 594 

